"Thank God for
Jeffords!!! Finally a politician with a conscience! I think his defection
sends a real message to the Pres and the Republican party. You CANNOT
ignore the moderates within your own party"KELLYGIRL3
Click to Read/Reply

Even in the 50-50 Senate, President Bush's Supreme Court nominees, who ever
they may be, faced tough confirmation battles. Once Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont officially
handed the Democratic Party a 50-49 Senate majority, those battles became wars.
Why?

While the full Senate was divided 50-50 -- while Sen. Jeffords was still a
Republican -- the Senate, in an effort to encourage bipartisan cooperation, created a special rule to deal with tie votes in
committees. Under the "50-50 rule," the Senate Majority Leader could force a
deadlocked nomination or bill out of committee and order it considered by the
full Senate. Vice President Cheney's tie-breaker vote gave the Republicans a
"nominal" majority which made Republican Sen. Trent Lott the Majority
Leader. Should a Bush nominee come up against a tie vote in the committee, Lott
could have simply invoked the 50-50 rule bringing the nomination before the full
Senate.

Now, Sen. Jeffords is no
longer a Republican, the Democrats hold a true 50-49 majority, a Democrat, Sen.
Tom Daschle will be the Majority Leader and the 50-50 rule is out. Nominations and bills can once again be held until dead,
so to speak, in committee.

Under the committee process, a Supreme Court nominee might be able to get 50
or more votes from the full Senate, but unless that nominee can first get at
least 10 votes in the Judiciary Committee, it's back to the day job.

President Bush's nominees will now have to get at least one vote from a
Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee before they can even be considered by the full
Senate. This means President Bush must now give serious consideration to
choosing more politically moderate nominees to fill future
Supreme Court vacancies than he might have considered before Sen. Jeffords went
independent.

During the campaign, President Bush stated that he planned to appoint Supreme
Court Justices "in the mold of" Justices Scalia and Thomas. With the
departure of Sen. Jeffords from the GOP, that mold may have been broken.

 The White House StepsThe Senate is now under a Democratic majority for the first time since
1994 and even greater challenges are ahead for Bush Administration. Let the
News/Issues Guides keep you posted.